Venus with its phases is the astronomical photo of the day of August 26 for NASA, author of the shot the Sardinian astrophotographer Roberto Ortu da Cabras. Venus, the planet named after the goddess of love, appears to our eyes as a brilliant star, the brightest in the sky. In recent months Venus was visible after sunset and in the last weeks of July it progressively approached the Sun, disappearing from view in the twilight lights. To understand the real nature of Venus, the planet must be observed through a telescope. The first to do this was Galileo Galilei who noticed that Venus showed phases like the Moon.

Not only that, as the phase changes, Venus changes its apparent size, becoming larger when only a small piece of it is observed. Thanks to these observations, Galileo found evidence that he placed Venus around the Sun and consequently also the other planets, including the Earth. The astrophotographer Roberto Ortu has ventured into the shooting of Venus through the telescope in recent months, from May 23rd to August 8th, thus managing to immortalize this phenomenon.

The beautiful shot was chosen as photo of the day, by the curators of the APOD page, Astronomy Picture of the Day, sponsored by NASA. Venus with its phases taken from Sardinia is now one of the photos that tells the story of the Universe, on the most visited photography page of the cosmos in the world.